NEWS WRITING

By MA. SARAH C. BAES, MT I Cabugcabug NHS

 FINDING 5 WS & H

Identify the 5 Ws and 1 H

of the following news
articles.
 To prevent potential terrorists form entering the
country, Japan imposed fingerprinting and photographing all
foreigners aged 16 and above on their entry, which started
November 20.

Permanent residents, diplomatic visitors and children

under 16 years old are exempted for these preventive
measures.

Takumi Sato, immigration bureau official said all

adult foreign visitors are photographed and fingerprinted
upon arrival in Japan.

“All images and data run through database of

international terror and crime suspects. Those who will be
matching the data on file will deported at once,” Takumi
said.
 What is News?

 any interesting information about recent events or

happenings, especially as reported by print,
broadcast or online media
 history as it happens

 a story the people need and want to know

 Key Elements of News

 who

 What
5 Ws + 1 H
 when

 Where

 Why

 how
Components of the
inverted pyramid
Lead or lede
May contain all 5Ws
and 1H
Secondary or
support lead
Explains or
complements lead
 Details or
particulars
Give flesh to story; all
available facts
included, especially
those answering why
and how
 Background
Provides relevant past
events about story;
may be deleted, if
space is limited
 The lead

Lead lures reader to other parts of story

Lead answers most significant question
based on the facts of story
Types of leads
Traditional and
alternative leads
ANGLING IN NEWS
WRITING
 Consider the following
data for angling
What: hanging to death
Who: an old man
Where: inside his sister’s house in Quezon
City
When: yesterday
Why: unable to find work and could not go
home to his family in Sultan Kudarat
How: by hanging himself using an iron cord
 Traditional Leads

Who lead: An old man was found dead

yesterday inside his sister’s house in
Quezon City.
What lead: Hanging himself, an old man
was found dead yesterday inside his
sister’s house in Quezon City
 Traditional leads

When lead: Yesterday, an old man was

found hanging himself to death inside
his sister’s house in Quezon City.
Where lead: Inside his sister’s house in
Quezon City, an old man was found
hanging himself to death yesterday.
 Traditional leads
Why lead: Unable to find work and
could not go home to his family in
Sultan Kudarat, an old man hung
himself to death yesterday inside his
sister’s house in Quezon City.
How lead: Using an iron cord, an old
man hung himself to death inside his
sister’s house in Quezon City
yesterday after he failed to find work
and could not go home to his family in
Sultan Kudarat
 Here’s the whole news
story
Jobless old man hung self to death
Unable to find work and could not go home to his
family in Sultan Kudarat, an old man hung himself
to death yesterday inside his sister’s house in
Quezon City.

Chief Inspector Fernando Sevillano, chief of the

homicide investigation section of the Quezon City
Police District, identified the dead as Orlando
Fabunan, 63, a native of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat.
 The chief inspector said, Fabunan was found by her
sister, Leonila Fabunan-Ortiz, hanging through an iron
cord inside the confort room of their house at 13
Narcisus St., Barangay Roxas District.

Ortiz and her son rushed Fabunan to Diosdado

Macapagal Hospital but he was declared dead on
arrival.

Ortiz said her brother failed to find work in Metro

Manila for the past months and was wanting to go
home to the province.

“He also wanted to go home to Lebak, Sultan

Kudarat to be with his family and has been asking his
siblings here to help him for his fare,” Ortiz said.
 Alternative leads

Punch lead – A brief and witty statement.

Like a good joke, it’s a punch line that
catches readers off guard.
Watching television can be deadly.
Joselito D, Cruz, 35, was beaten to death when
he changed the television channel against
the wishes of the other patrons at the
Lopaluza Bar along Taft Avenue last night.
 Alternative leads

Picture or descriptive lead – A vivid word

picture of an event.
Clutching his five-year-old son, Pedro Sison,
32, could not control his tears to roll down
on his cheek when he heard that his wife,
Marivic, 30, and their two-year-old
daughter, were among those killed in the
Manor Hotel fire incident in Quezon City.
 Alternative leads
Contrast lead – Uses the comparison between
two extremes.
Forty years ago, he was a fish vendor in Tondo.
Today he is the ninth richest person in the
country.
---
Welcome sunlight greeted most part of Northern
and Central Luzon yesterday, but a weekend
darkened by a  tropical  depression has left a
trail of death and destruction.
 Alternative leads
Direct address lead – “Violates” news
convention of writing in the third person by
using the second person, with the aim of
targeting specific readers.
If your parents are alumni of this school, then
your family may be eligible for the annual
loyalty award.
The Aurora Elementary School Loyalty Award
will be given to a family that has been with the
school for at least two generations, Principal
Mike Matino announced during the flag
ceremony yesterday.
 Alternative leads

Question lead – Uses a question which at the

same time serves as key idea of the story.
Is a tuition increase really necessary?
A tuition increase can be avoided next year, if
the school manages to raise P500,000 from
the newspaper drive, Principal Francis B.
Ochoa said yesterday.
 Alternative leads
Quotation lead – Uses an important or bold remark of
statement from a speech or an interview.
“We will win the championships,” coach Virgilio Santos
confidently declared yesterday.
-
“All these people who are using my name. I had them
investigated – all of them.”
That was the reason, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada said
yesterday, that he ordered the Bureau of Customs to
investigate his supposed close associate Lucio Lao Co
and 13 other suspected smugglers.
 Alternative leads
Sequence lead – A series of paragraphs arranged
chronologically
By five in the morning, she had already dressed her
two daughters, Cynthia 4, and Miriam 2, for a
Sunday mass.
At seven, the three of them were seen attending mass
in the chapel.
At nine, when they returned to their shanty at Dagat-
Dagatan, Maria Dorado, 46, despondent after having
been abandoned by her husband, strangled her two
daughters. She herself committed suicide.
 Alternative leads

Staccato lead – Series of phrases, punctuated

by commas or dashes.
Patient labor force. Calm management sector.
Quick thinking mediators. All of these
brought down the number of strike notices
in the country by 14 percent this year,
belying claims that increased labor tensions
are bound to occur as a result of the
economic crisis.
 Alternative leads

Epigram lead – It begins with a saying or a

quotation and stresses the moral of the
story.
Crime does not pay. Romy Corrales, 34,
learned this only after he had been collared
by the police for being a fake immigration
agent.
 Alternative leads
Summary lead – Attempts to give whole summary of
the story in the lead.
Sen. Franklin Drilon said yesterday Interior Secretary
Ronaldo Puno would have “a hard time” getting
past the Commission on Appointments because of a
memorandum he had issued that could impair local
autonomy.
-
A new treaty that allows the United States to maintain
its military presence in the Philippines was signed
yesterday by Manila and Washington.
TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE
AN EFFECTIVE LEAD
Use a simple sentence.
If it is a one-sentence paragraph lead,
the average length is 25-35 words.
Do not overload the beginning
paragraph with the answers of 5 Ws
and 1 H. Remember that the second
paragraph is a secondary lead, too.
Do not use an important or
unusual word twice in the same
sentence.
Avoid repetition of clauses,
phrases and other similar
grammatical construction at the
beginning of each paragraph.
Avoid, when possible, the use of
articles such as a, an, and the as the
beginning word of the lead.
 RULES IN PARAGRAPH
CONSTRUCTION IN NEWS WRITING
Important fact should be placed at the
beginning of the paragraph.
Avoid repetition of clauses, phrases and
other similar grammatical construction at
the beginning of each paragraph .
Do not put direct quotation and indirect
quotation in the same paragraph.
One-sentence paragraph is preferred in writing
news, but if it cannot be avoided, it should not
exceed three sentences.
For easy reading, average number of words per
sentence should be between 15 to 20. a sentence
longer than 30 words may be hard to understand.
Arrange paragraphs in the descending order of
importance so that the layout editor can delete the
last least important one for lack of space.
 6 Cardinal Rules
Be clear.
Be concise.
Be coherent.
Be credible.
Be sure.
Be fair.
 The Big Difference
Lead No. 1 Lead No. 2
 Philippine President President Aquino
Benigno Simeon Aquino
III said yesterday it is
yesterday pushed
about time to abolish the for abolition of the
Priority Development pork barrel of
Assistance Funds of lawmakers amid
senator and congressmen
charges of misuse.
following findings of
anomalies by the
Commission on Audit.
 Sample

SC stops power rate increase

Manila, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) played
Santa Claus yesterday to outrage consumers of
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) by stopping the power
distributor for 60 days from implementing its record
rate increase of P4.15 per kilowatt-hour.
Meralco said it would abide by the SC order.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the order but we
will have to follow what the Supreme Court will say
and hopefully, this would be resolved before the
next billing cycle,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes
said.
Although on Holiday recess, the SC justices issued a
temporary restraining order (TRO) on the rate hike
originally set for implementation in three stages
beginning next month and in February and March.
The TRO also stopped the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) from implementing its order last
Dec.9 approving the rate increase and its three-step
collection.
Based on ERC’s order, P2.41 of the increase will
reflect in the billing and the remaining P1.21/kwh
and P0.53/kwh in February and March,
respectively.
SC spokesman Theodore Te told reporters in a
press briefing that the TRO would be in effect
starting today for 60 days.
The SC issued the TRO in response to consolidated
petitions from militant party-list groups led by
Bayan Muna and consumer groups led by National
Association of Electricity Consumers for Reform
(Nasecore).
In the same order, Meralco and the ERC were given
until Jan.8, 2014 to comment on the petitions before
oral arguments on the case are held on Jan. 21 at 2
p.m.
Te said the TRO was issued under the authority of
the Chief Justice and upon recommendation of the
justice in charge of the case.
“As a general statement, a restraining order restores
the status quo as of a specific date by stopping
certain acts from being done. Now as to the
question on the rates already collected, that is not
within the scope of our restraining order but it
would probably be addressed once the court
decides,” he added.
 How to be a Good News
Writer?
Enhance vocabulary
Master your grammar
Read newspapers
Develop social awareness
Practice writing
Expand your network
 Write a straight news on the
following data
•“The Philippines is now the world’s top exporter of labor,” said Labor
Secretary Antonio Brion before the House Committee justifying his
proposal P6.2 billion budget for 2008 on September 5
•The budget is P800 million higher than the current P5.4 billion
allocation
•He said to congressmen: We are now the No.1 labor-sending
country simply because Filipinos are very desired everywhere.”
•“If we are not that productive, we will not be that desired,” he added.
•In Saudi Arabia alone, he said, the demand for Filipino nurses falls
short of 2,000
•The Secretary also said Philippines is sending one million Filipino
workers overseas every year and totaled them to 7.9 million
•The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
is aiming to get the highest increase from P2.5 million to P3.1 million
among all agencies attached to the Department of Labor and
Employment